Yeikichi otsttka



Y. oTsuKA.

APPARATUS FOR. CIONCENTRATING OHES BY FLOTATION. APPLICATION FILED O CTuIT, 1918.

1,393,821. Patented yont. 1s, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFHQE..

YEIKICHI OTSUKA, 0F TOKYO, JAPAN.

APPARATUS FOR CONCENTRATING ORFYS BY FLOTATION.

T0 all 107mm t may concern.'

Be it known that l, Ynmionr OrsUxA, subject of Japan, resident of No. 66 Toyooka Machi, Mita, Shiba Ku, Tokyo, Japan, a manufacturer, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in an Apparatus for Concentrating Ores by Flotation, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements i an apparatus for dressing ores by notation of a type having its beater shaft horizoutally mounted, such as K. and K. machine, named after the inventors Max Kraut and F. B. Kollberg, bothof Douglas, Arizona, and consists in the provision of a preliminary beatingchamber divided into several small sections, in which several sections, the ore is successively mixed with suitable quantities of acids, carbonates, oil and other froth forming materials. churned and passed into the beating chamber proper; and in the provision of blowers on both sides of the apparatus to blow air into the beater. The object of this invention is to increase the rate of concentration and economize frothers, by mixing the ore according to its nature with suitable froth-forming materials and by bringing it to perfect contact with air or any other gas.

I will now describe myinvention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure l is a cross sectional view, Fig. 2 a longitudinal sectional view, Fig. 3 a plan view, and Fig. 4 an end view, of the apparatus, Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view of the preliminary beating chamber which forms one of the principal features of this invention, and Fig. 6 a transverse sectional view of the same, and Fig. 7 is an end view of the beater.

The construction of the beating chamber as shown in Figs. l to 4, is the same as that of the K. and K. flotation machine. The shaft 2 of a beater l is mounted for rotation in two bearings 3, and is revolved by means of a pulley 4. The beating chamber 5 is a cylindrical chamber, and the beaterl which revolves therein, consists of a number of wheels 6 firmly fixed to the shaft 2. 0n the periphery of the wheels 6, along the whole length of the beating chamber 5 are fixed planks 7 at suitable intervals. On the planks 7 are fixed at regular intervals a number of slender pieces 8 of wood. Thus the beater assumes the form of a cylinder lwith a riffled surface, The pulp supplied specification of Lettersratenc. insina@ @m7, 18, um@

Application led Gctober 1'7, 1918.

Serial No. 258,648.

from the supplypipe 9 is whirled by the beater l and goes around along the inner surface ofthe beating chamber. At the same time, the air blown into the inside of the cylindrical beater, from the air tubes on both sides. being influenced by centrifugal force and thrown against the pulp, aerates the same.

Between the beating and frothing chambers, a partition 1]. perforated with numerous holes is fitted to prevent extension of the agitation in the beating chamber to the frothing` chamber, thus facilitating the iotation of ore-containing froth, which being influenced by the whirling motion of the pulp, overflows from the brink l2 on the front of the machine and is carried away through any suitable duct. The remaining pulp returns back to the beating` chamber from below the partition 13 and through the square holes l5 of the partition 14, and is again churned. The beating chamber is divided into several sections by triangular partitions 16, so that the pulp introduced from one end does not go out through the discharge port 18 without receiving frothing treatment, but must make a spiral circuit in the beating chamber and go around to one frothing chamber where the values float, and then to the other where the tailing sinks and goes out through the discharge port 18.

The above construction is already known and does not constitute any part of my invention.

Now. as a matter of fact, ores, even when they are unearthed from the same mine, have various different properties; and it is impossible to obtain always a satisfactory result by subjecting ores having different properties to one unchangeable treatment. According to methods hitherto known. in which ores are so treated, therefore, it is a matter of course that they often do not give satisfactory results; and generally speaking they have the following drawbacks l. lt is extremely diiiicult to bring ores under water into close contact with oil, gas

and the like, which cannot be mixed with water, and thus in the methods hitherto known not a small quantity of frothers is being wasted away.

2. Before the ore and the frothers are thoroughly mixed, part of the pulp is discharged into the first frothing chamber to be frothed, and consequently. that part of the pulp which iS not well mixed with the frothers will not float but will go back to the next beating chamber to be again mixed with frothers and sent to the next frothing chamber to be floated, and so on. And even after repetition or" such treatment, there is part of the ore which cannot be frothed, but goes out of the machine together with the tailing. Thus much time and values themselves are lost.

3. There is a limit to the speed of the revolution of the beater, and beyond this limit there will be a great waste of power. At this limit, if left only to the centrifugal force, the current. of air is not strong enough to thoroughly penetrate into the pulp; and consequently aeration is not perfect.

Now, according to my invention all the above mentioned drawbacks are removed. It consists of a preliminary beating chamber which is divided into several sections 19 by partitions 28 each section 19 being provided with a preliminary beater 20. By means of these beaters 2O the thick pulp introduced from a supply pipe 9 is mixed according to the nature of the ore with suitable fret-hers such as oil, soap.l acid, carbonates, and the like, one kind in each section, each kind of frother being` supplied by a frother supply pipe 21. In the first section, the pulp is supplied with one kind of frotheil and well beaten, it going around along the inner surface of the preliminary beating chamber in a spiral way, and when itI goes'beyond the triangular partition 22 (see Figs. 5 and 6), it passes into the next section of the preliminary beating chamber through the round hole 26 of the partition 23. In the next section of the preliminary beating chamber, another' suitable kind of frother is added in a suitable quantity, and the pulp is churned as in the lirst section, and passes into the third section, and so on, until the pulp is well mixed with suitable quantities of suitable frothers and is ready to form froth. It is then passed to the beatingchamber proper of known construction` already described, where it is for the first time mixed with a suitable quantity of water, and floated.

In order to facilitate the aeration of the pulp, the spaces between planks forming the rillled surface of the beater are made to make a certain angle to the planes passing through the axis ofthe shaft, so that these planks give least. resistance to the air passing out by centrifugal force. To further facilitate the aeration, the shaft of the beater is provided at the places where it passes the outer walls of the beating chamber with blowers 24, to blow air into the interior ot thebcater from both sides.

My invention works as follows z- Thick pulp of ore is introduced from the supply pipe 9 into the preliminary beating chamber 19, where the pulp is mixed with not less than two suitable kinds of frothers of not antagonistic natures, and is well churned, causing the same to whirl around thcl beating chamber in a spiral circuit. It is then passed to the beating chamber proper, where it is mixed with water supplied from the water supply pipe and violently churned, at the same time the air blown into the beater by the blowers is thrown, influenced by centrifugal force, against the pulp and aerates the same. The pulp thus aerated now passes through the perforations of the partition 11 into the frothing chamber 10, where it is frothed and the values lioat and overflow the brink 12, while the tailing sinks and goes back to the beating chamber. .ln the beating chamber the tailing goes around the beater in a spiral way and passes into the next frothing chamber, where it is dischargedl through the discharge pipe.

Tf desired, the preliminary beating chamber may be of one section only, but with several frother supply pipes in order to mix the ore, before passing it to thc beating chamber proper, with several suitable kinds of frothers.

In a machine of the class described, a casing, partitions subdividing said casing into longitudinally alined compartments, a shaft extending through all said compartments, mixer-beaters mounted upon said shaft in each compartment, the beaters of the lirst compartments being adapted to mix orc pulp and flotation agent without substantial aeration, the beater of the last compartments being provided with means for delivering air into the pulp` all the conn'iartinents being connected for the passage of pulp therethrough successively, the first compartments having means for the delivery thereto of flotation agents, and flotation means receiving from the last compartments.

Signed at Tokyo, Japan, this 2nd day of September', A. D. 1918.

Y'EIKTCHI OTSUKA.

Witnesses YULUI KAWADA, T. TANINA. 

